No. 1 Swiatek upset by Krejcikova in Dubai final Aussie Thompson takes down Tsitsipas at BNP Paribas Open Andy Murray pulls out another 3-set victory at Indian Wells

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Ranked No. 1 Iga Swiatek lost 6-4, 6-2 to Barbora Krejcikova in the final of the Dubai Championship.

Krejcikova ended the tournament by beating top three WTA players: No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals, No. 2 Arina Sobalenko in the semi-finals, then Swiatek. No. 8 Daria Kasaktina was also defeated in the second round.

The Czech is the fifth woman in the Open Era to beat the top three in the world in the same tournament.

Krejcikova dominated the final, beating Swiatek five times. The Pole earned two breaks in the first set, but Kreychikova then played a love break and kept the love until the set.

In the second, she made a 2-1 and 5-2 break and served easily to win her sixth singles title.

Her previous title came in October when she beat Swiatek for the first time in the Ostrava final.

Indian Wells, California. Stefanos Tsitsipas lost to Australian Jordan Thompson 7-6 (0), 4-6, 7-6 (5) in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open on Friday.

Second seed Tsitsipas had a bandaged shoulder and an injury appeared to have affected his backhand.

Jordan took advantage of this and attacked the Greek from the left, attacking with short balls, and earned his second career victory over a top 10 player.

He beat the Australian Open runner-up Tsitsipas in two hours and 37 minutes.

No. 3 seed Kasper Ruud edged out Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-3. Ruud took a 4-1 lead in the first set and won the only break point on his serve with a right hand that cut the line.

No. 10 seed Cameron Norrie advanced to the third round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over qualified Wu Tung-Ling of Taiwan.

A handful of sowing men fell. Jason Kubler left as No. 21 Grigor Dimitrov retired, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 3-0 behind. No. 22 Roberto Bautista Agut lost to Emil Ruusuvuori, 7-6 (5), 6-2. Ilya Ivashka advanced when 28th Botić Van de Zandschulp had to retire 7-5, 3-2 behind. 29th Yoshihito Nishioka lost to qualified Christian Garin 6–4, 6–0.

In the women’s game No. 2, Arina Sobolenko defeated Evgenia Rodina with a score of 6-2, 6-0.

No. 9 Belinda Bencic lost to Jill Teichmann 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. 29 Donna Vekic defeated Lesya Tsurenko 2-6, 6-2, 6-2

Fine. 11 Veronika Kudermetova defeated Anna Blinkova, 6-3, 6-4. Barbora Kreychikova with the sixteenth number beat Dayana Yastremska with a score of 6:1, 6:2. Fine. 24 Olena Ostapenko got Alexandra Sasnovich, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Rebecca Peterson pulled out when No. 22 Zhang Shuai went 3-0 down in the first set.

INDIAN WELLS, California. Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray has gone undefeated this season in matches that end in a decisive third or fifth set, coming back to defeat Thomas Martin Etcheverry 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4 for over three hours in first round of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday.

Murray, a 35-year-old with an artificial hip, faced a couple of break points while serving 15-40 and already trailing 4-3 in the final set. Implement any of these moments, and Etcheverry would have served to win.

But Murray, who was runner-up at Indian Wells in 2009, managed to hang on there by starting a three-game streak against Etcheverry, the 21-year-old Argentine who is 61st after reaching the tournament final in Santiago, Chile. last week.

So far in 2023, Murray is 5-0 in best-of-five matches that go three sets, and 2-0 in best-of-five matches that go five. He is 0-3 in competitions that end early.

Another three major title winner, Stan Wawrinka, made a successful return to the hard-surface tournament in the California desert after a four-year absence, defeating qualifier Alexander Vukic 6–4, 1–6, 6–1.

Wawrinka, a 37-year-old ranked 3rd and now 100th after a series of left foot and left knee surgeries, hit 10 aces and won 28 of 33 first innings. His previous match in Indian Wells was a third round loss to Swiss Davis Cup teammate Roger Federer in 2019.

Wawrinka will face No. 26 seed Miomir Kecmanovic in the second round of the first Masters 1000 event of the season.

Dominic Thiem, who won the 2019 Indian Wells title and the US Open a year later, was scheduled to play in the first round later on the second day.

Emma Radukanou, who won the 2021 US Open as a teenager, returned to the court on Thursday for the first time since January after suffering from tonsillitis and trailed 2-0 in every set during what became a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danka Kovinic.

Another 20-year-old, Ben Shelton, started off with a 2-0 loss to Fabio Fognini and then won 12 of the last 15 games 6-4, 6-1. Shelton, the 2022 NCAA singles champion from the University of Florida, who hasn’t won a match since reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, will play No. 4 seed and defending champion Taylor Fritz next.

Fognini was cautioned for loud obscenity and for taking too long to prepare for the return pitch; he also hit with a racket during a match, but the chair umpire did not cite him for it.

Thanasi Kokkinakis scored 32 of the 34 points he scored in a 6-4, 6-1 win over wild card Brandon Holt to earn Saturday against defending US Open champion and top seed Carlos Alcaraz.

Danielle Collins, runner-up at the 2022 Australian Open, lost her second match in a row to a non-top 50 opponent by knocking out 80th-seeded Dalma Galfi 6-4, 6-4. Halif lost in qualifying, but advanced to the main draw when someone withdrew. Collins posted only nine winners, committing 41 unforced errors.

Varvara Gracheva, who qualified at Indian Wells after reaching the final in Austin, Texas last week, defeated Ysaline Bonaventure 6-2, 6-2; Katerina Sinyakova beat Jules Niemeyer 7:5, 6:4; and Jill Teichmann beat Ashlyn Krueger 6-1, 6-4.

In terms of other results, Jack Draper beat qualifier Leandro Riedi 6-1, 6-1 to set up an all-British match against No. 24 Dan Evans; Mackenzie McDonald defeated Filip Krajinovic 6-3, 6-0 and Marton Fuksovich beat JJ Wolf with a score of 1:6, 6:0, 6:3.